


Bullshitting Ascension Chapter Two

by Kiosk



Category: Ascension (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-12 23:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2128074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiosk/pseuds/Kiosk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She could feel them watching her. Hear the whispers, as if from just past her own realm of understanding. Or possibly from inside her own damned memory. Insisting that she belonged in there. That she got out by pure luck. That she was one of them. </p><p>I swore I wasn't going to do this to myself again.<br/>Part 2 of the apparently continuing adventure where I, Kiosk, write out Ascension without checking for accuracy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_There was a faint knock on the queen's door, answered by one infant's soft mewling. Only one._

_The nurse entered the room, per the queen's request._

_"I was right." The queen was in her bed, her red eyes casting dark shadows. The exhaustion of childbirth had clearly gotten to her. "It's twins. A boy and a girl." The nurse knew what this meant. It had been discussed before, and she was one of the few confidants who knew of this. "Take this one," the queen motioned towards the newborn that was still asleep._

_"Which is it?" she asked before thinking better of it._

_The queen took in a shaking breath. It was now clear that it was all she could do not to begin sobbing. "Please. I know what I'm asking of you. Just take this one, and follow our plan." There was something she wasn't saying, something of massive importance that she felt awful not saying. "Please."_

_The nurse took the still child and ran. She didn't question the queen's reasoning. She'd known from the beginning that this would be her job. By sunrise, she'd made it out of the city and began her trek to the cottage which would be home to both her and this new noble child. That's when it struck her that something was very, very wrong.  
_

_The child hadn't made a noise in this entire time._

_Horror stricken, the nurse unwraps the gossamer linens from its face, to be met with a pair of large, curious red eyes fixed on her face. The child was still. It could be mistaken for a marble statue if not for its shallow puffs of breath._

_She's forced to put it down for a minute as convulsions of terror and understanding overcome her._

_Once she'd collected herself, she picks up the tiny, helpless noble and continues walking, cradling the child close, stroking and shushing it more to comfort herself than anything else._

 

It wasn't exactly a recurring nightmare, none of them followed the same events. But they all carried the same theme. The same churning waves of molten silver that swallowed her into their depths, where her skin was luminescent and everything was tinted in red. And the same awful sense that she's thoroughly, deeply fucked.

The details of the nightmare aren't important, only that Aida was having one, and that she couldn't wake herself up from these ones. Before the tower collapsed on her, nightmares weren't an issue. Sure, there had been plenty, but they never held more resonance than her skin crawling for a good several minutes and an inability to get back to sleep. Now, each night terror lasted well into the day. 

This particular day, Aida began launching herself out of her bed and into the wall on the opposite side of her hut. The not-so-distant sounds of the ocean did little to help her convince herself that it was just a dream.

Just a dream. She'd say it over and over until she believed it.

She'd learned from experience that it was on days that began like this that it was hardest to keep herself together.

Maybe Ava could do something. She had to have some kind of sleep potion recipe or something. What kind of alchemist didn't?

There was a note pinned to the door.

"Aida, you should come to the blacksmiths. I have a surprise for you.  -Vic"

So maybe today wouldn't be an utter piece of shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on doing this. I am weak.   
> Well, since I'm here anyway, i think i'm going to go for a more omniscient pov this time.   
> lets do this


	2. Chapter 2

Victor was waiting on the island's shorter hill where the ocean's breeze met with the smell of molten iron. "Hey, there you are!" he shouted when he saw Aida.

Aida skipped a few steps to join him outside the small forge. "Where are they?"

"Where's what?" Somebody should really tell Vic how bad he is at playing dumb. Though it was easier to just go along with it.

"My babies?"

"Haha, right! You're always so direct to the point, you that's what I love about-"

"Victor!" She hated when he broke out the L word.

"Right!" He fumbled around his worktable for a minute, coming up with a mess of leather straps holding two sheaths. Aida all but snatched it, and pulled one blade out of its cover.

"By the old..."

Vic beamed. "I tried to stick to their original design, but they were pretty badly damaged. You know, it would have been easier on me to just make a new pair."

Aida tore her eyes off the shining new metal to meet his. "I know. I know. It's just-" she struggled with which words to use. "These are really important to me." The only things she had left from before opening the gate. She'd left the bags that held her bedroll, journal, and few other possessions with Sky. Everything she'd had on her person was either burned and crushed beyond repair or completely gone. The daggers were the only proof of her previous life. She ran her thumb along the hilt. It was still warm. "Thank you."

"Um, by the way," Oh no. Here it came. "I was wondering if you'd want to-"

"Hello Victor. Solyn."

For the first time, Aida was actually happy to see the towering, sullen sun elf. The feeling of tolerance faded quickly. "Aida. My name is Aida."

"You are a key, no?" Again with the key business. In truth, Aida wasn't sure if he genuinely thought of her as an object or if he was just making fun of her initial disorientation upon waking up on the island.

"I still have a name." _You heard Ava. I'm not a key. There is no gate. I went crazy when the tower exploded on me._ _Remember?_

"There is no need to give an object a special name."

"Wow, Faelern, you sure know how to chat up a lady." Her tone was drier and less chilly than she'd wished. It's hard to keep a sense of humor when there's a three month long block of empty sitting there in your memory.

"But you aren't a lady." She almost wished he'd take up a malicious front. It would be easier to deal with than this overt matter-of-factness. "You're-"

"Yeah. A solyn. Got it." It occurred that she didn't have to stay here and take this. "Bye."

She caught Faelern asking Victor about his bow on her way out.

 

Ava was almost no help. At least she promised to try to make a sleeping potion, if Aida would find the ingredients.

Wandering across the thin forest, scanning the ground for nightlock, she replayed the conversation in her mind.

"Thinking of someone special?"

"No, just, well, nah. I don't know."

Was Zander special? Aida honestly had no idea, and it being over a year since the week she'd known him didn't help.

But if you took away the romantic insinuations?

Definitely.

He was a mage, for the old kings' sake. That alone helped him stand out. He was the first person who understood that having to completely re-learn how to feel is really fucking hard. He had this passion that no one would ever expect from a moon elf. And as for his intense over protectiveness, well, Aida probably should have listened to him anyway.

At least she preferred his gloom-and-doom attitude over a certain other elf's.

Aida still thought that their relationship could have shifted into that prized zone, if there had just been more time. Not that any of that mattered anymore.

"You are new."

Aida screamed and jumped around to find herself face to face with an elderly bearded man. "By the old kings, do you always sneak up on girls in forests?" He didn't seem to notice, or care.

"A thief? Or bully? Mm, too fragile." _Excuse me?_ "Silver hair, but young. You look like a noble. But-"

"I don't feel like one?" she prompted.

"Mmhm. You're lost. What are you looking for on this island?"

Now there were a number of ways Aida could respond to that. She could choose her gut reaction and tell him to scram, that he was asking a rather personal question and she had no clue who he was. Or she could just give him a short and vague answer, which might satisfy him. "Um, island things? Like seashells and stuff. I tried to get a tan but the whole undead thing kinda got in the way of that."

"Humor in a noble, that's unusual."

"So is random old men I don't know wanting to play Twenty Questions."

He hmmed again. 

"Hey, all I know is that I wound up here after opening up a gate to the Old Kingdom, so could you take your 'hmm' somewhere else?"

"Wait." His expression dropped from mild confusion to outright terror in record time. "You opened a gate?"

"I- kind of? I guess?" 

And then the man went off again, muttering to himself. Someone should tell him there is no gate because Aida just went crazy when the entire fucking castle fell on her. She only caught bits and pieces of what he was saying, but enough to gather that there was something being held in the Old Kingdom, and it was very, very dangerous. "And of course the others won't be far behind. Oh no, no no no."

"Um," she interjected. "But there's nobody to open the rest of the gates, right?"

He stopped, like he'd just remembered she was there. "They'll open on their own."

"Are you saying I may have doomed us all?"

"What's this?" And there's that damn elf again.

"Faelern! Just when we were out of positivity!"

The man then scrambled off, muttering something about "talk to Ava."

"Am I in trouble?"

Faelern scowled down at her as if she'd just asked him to eat his shoe. He didn't have shoes. "You _are_ trouble."


	3. Chapter 3

"You are late," Faelern noted as Aida joined him on the docks.   
"You are snappish." Aida pressed her temples. After today, kings only know how long with him held negative amounts of appeal.   
Go close the gate, Aida. Yeah, just close it. It's not like you don't even know what that means or where it is. Go along with her Faelern. She totally wants you along.   
"Damn," she mused. "I was hoping to see a no jerks allowed sign. Shame."  
"Why would you hope that?" Faelern followed her up the ramp onto the ship waiting to take them to Taran.  
She groaned. "It's called a joke. JOKE. Are you familiar with jokes?"   
"I don't think you should be joking at this moment."  
Aida was about to go off on him when a sailor stood and announced that they'd be pulling into Taran the next morning. Okay, so now want her time. But soon. Soon.  
Faelern found her as she was escaping a curious anthropologist with questions.   
"What are you planning to say once we get to the village?"  
Aida shrugged. "Probably something like 'hey, I may have accidentally opened up the Old Kingdom and I hear you can help."  
"I don't think the lith will appreciate the humor."  
"Well they won't be the only ones," she muttered. Then Faelern the the straw that broke her desire to maintain a mildly peaceful relationship with him.  
"Interesting how you can joke even after dooming the entire world, solyn."  
Solyn. There he went again with the noble-key bullshit. Solyn.   
She snapped. "WELL WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?" This was her chance. There was no stopping her now. "Alright, listen up. If you ever talk to me in your stupid condescending tone again, I will kill you. Okay? I watched the woman who was the only thing I've ever had resembling a family be killed, only to be stabbed myself a few seconds later. I've been kidnapped and recruited by a fucking drug cartel, used in two necromamcy rituals. Not one, two. I was flattened under a goddamn tower and now the only people I've ever felt anything about think I'm dead. I'm dead. So if you ever think it's your place to approve or disapprove how I cope with my own damage, stick it in the forest up your ass because I am done."  
She made a split second decision. "You know what? Actually, when then boat docks in Taran, I'm getting off, but you're going to stay on and go the fuck away and you can go do whatever you want. Go curse the whole universe for whatever it did to fuck you up, I don't care as long as you get off my back because I'm already knee deep in bullshit and i can't deal with yours."  
Faelern didn't respond. He looked surprised that Aida would eventually get sick of dealing with him.   
The other passengers stared, most looking mildly afraid. It occurred that most of them had probably never seen a noble before and may not know that she wasn't about to go into a massacre.   
Whatever. She'd finally said it.   
She turned and went below deck to find her cabin.   
She stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She rested her forehead on the thick wood and found herself grinning. Whatever else was happening, that had felt good. Wait- why was the door open?  
She yelped and jumped when the captain stepped out of the shadow.   
"I'm sorry for scaring you, I just need some help."  
"Help?"  
"Somebody on the ship is smuggling cologmonite." Cologmonite, right. The stuff they used in mage trials. That was also very illegal. So illegal, in fact that the only group known to trade it is- shit. The Eagles.   
Which would mean that there were Eagles members on this ship. This ship where she had just had an outburst and drawn attention to herself. 

The storage area was a crowded mess of barrels full of flour, and wine, and, yeah there it was. Cologmonite. The note the captain had told her of was not in there. Aida snooped through a little longer before finding a particularly incriminating price of paper in a barrel of apples. Someone named Paine.   
So step one was complete. Now to get rid of these bottles of illegal drugs.   
She smashed all of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah i forgot a bunch of important stuff  
> There keeps being more plot than i thought  
> Anyway i might go back later to see if i can kinda fill in the hole


	4. Chapter 4

_There was a glass of water on the table in front of Alexander._ _He focused on watching a bead of condensation drip down until it evaporated under his gaze, forcing him to look up at the_ _older man on the other side of the table. He's still talking, most likely in attempt to seem friendly._

_"Have a drink," he'd said. "The trials are incredibly exhausting. You'll want to be hydrated."  
_

_Alexander took a sip._

_He answered his questions tersely. In truth, he'd stopped paying much attention after "I didn't know Lord Morthil had a son." You'd think adults would realize that amazement at his existence wouldn't win him over._

_"So, if I understand correctly, they were hurting your lith girlfriend, so you burned your house down?" At least there was no condescension in his tone; he could be the first to understand that it hadn't exactly been a conscious choice._

_Still, Alexander took another sip, this one of considerable length, then he took a minute to inspect the gauze covering the partially healed burn on the palm of his right hand. "No."_

_"No?"_

_"Not my girlfriend."_

_"Okay," he rolled his eyes, but watched as Alexander drank from the glass again._

_Was the interview part of the trials? Nothing he'd read about had mentioned this, only the cologmonite_

_And the effects of said cologmonite. Alexander shivered. He wondered what would happen if he just didn't take it. Would that do any good whatsoever? No, it'd probably only end up worse for him in the long run. Or short run._

_The man, who had introduced himself as Myrin, exited the dark onyx room, leaving behind the half empty glass._

_Now, Alexander stood and began to pace. Right now, the memory of the flames spreading across his room, licking up onto Kille's legs. Apparently lith burn quickly._

_He took another drink, trying to find anything to distract himself. The gleaming black walls seemed the perfect canvas to project these memories onto, like he was going through it again. He could hear his mother assuring his father that someday, their youngest child would land himself in some deep, serious shit._

_The glass sat there, the last few drops beginning to cloud and darken._

_Oh._

_Well, there was no turning back now._

_Alexander finished the glass of water and set it back on the table in front of him. He focused of a bead of sweat dripping down his neck until it evaporated off his warming skin._

 

 

It took Zander a minute to notice his hand was on fire. He sighed and extinguished it, then gingerly rubbed the light scorch mark it left on the wooden table.

Putting kids on trial, that never went wrong. Not that he was in any position to criticize how the lith in Ratta managed things.

He glanced around the small, trashed hut. Bones and some leaves from varying plants littered the floor. A dozen old books sat opened on every surface. Black marks scattered around proved that he'd been even less stable than usual lately.

It was probably time to start cleaning, if it was more likely than not that he'd be leaving today. Even if it meant leaving behind unfinished work, he'd promised the chief that he'd take care of his daughter, at least until he got her to safety. 

And just when he was getting close.

The bones were crushed and went outside, scattered off somewhere in the woods. Personal notes and any plant matter was burned. Everything else fit into two categories: resources from Seeru, which were neatly stacked and put onto the shelves, and Zander's things, which went into the bag he hadn't touched since his arrival.

It had been over a year. He could wait longer.

Once outside, he was immediately caught by a much smaller man.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ohna asked.

"Well, I was going to see how the trial was going-"

"Good, you're not doing anything. There's a noble outside the village. Get rid of her."

"And by that do you mean...?"

Ohna rolled his eyes. "I don't care, just make her leave."

"Alright." He wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to do, but he was fairly certain that at least part of the reason the lith let him stay here was for things like this.

As Zander approached the village gate, he could hear bits of a conversation. He grew a little uneasy when he caught "I can't let them find out I'm alive." Something about a gate and the Old Kingdom, and this being a matter of life and death.

He turned the corner to see a thin, pale frame with a head of tangled white hair. "I'm sorry, but the camp is currently-" It all dawned on him at once. A noble, a gate to the Old Kingdom, someone thinking she was dead? The noble turned to face him and her bright green eyes widened with recognition. "Closed?"

Aida was standing barely a yard in front of him. Upright, and alive, and not under a collapsed tower. But Aida was dead. There was no way anybody inside that castle should have survived that explosion. She also looked as surprised as he was.

There was a moment of tension, when he couldn't think through the pure shock. Then, when his thoughts returned he closed the short distance, pulling her into a hug and burying his face in her hair as mildly embarrassing and half formed thoughts started tumbling from his mouth.

"Are you- Is this real? You're really? I'm dreaming aren't I? Can I stay like this? Um," he finally reeled himself back in, and after a few more moments he stepped back, releasing her.

"'Sup," she stammered.

Zander stared at her as if she'd just risen from the dead. Which for all he knew, she had. "'Sup?"

Aida cringed. "Yeah, I'm not good at this. I thought I'd have more time to figure out how to explain myself."

"Explain?"

"I was kind of alive the whole time."

It took a moment for what this meant to sink in. "And it didn't occur to you to maybe let us know?"

"I was hiding, you know, from the Eagles? I-" she sighed. "I thought I'd have more time to figure this out." It became clear then that she was holding back tears. Actually, she looked terrible. She appeared even skinnier than before she'd disappeared, her collar and shoulder bones poking out from the green island clothes she was wearing. She didn't have any shoes. There were dark circles under her eyes, like she hadn't been sleeping. The eagle tattoo that had been fresh before was now distorted by scar tissue.

Old kings, he couldn't even look at the scars for long.

Almost the whole right half of her body was covered in burn scars. And in these new clothes, he could see the massive stab wound on her stomach. Even years after whatever had happened to her, it was clear where exactly some kind of blade had entered her, and where Sky's father had cauterized it.

"I just have one question" he said.

"Yeah?"

"It's been over a year and a half. What made you decide to come back now?"

Aida stared at the ground. When she looked up, Zander was mildly alarmed at the level of fear and shame on her face. "I fucked up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that i said about more omniscience?  
> i got the beginning of this chapter from this post in the rinmaru forums: http://rinmarugames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=119  
> betcha didn't know that we've has a canon encounter with myrin  
> or you did or whatever  
> on another note, just in case anyone's actually following this tomfoolery, i've decided i'm going to be putting it on hiatus for a while. i'm going to be really busy all the time for the next two months, and then is nanowrimo, when i want to focus on one of my original stories. so i will start writing this again in december. ok? cool.


	5. Chapter 5

About fifteen minutes later, Aida was sitting in a small hut that was neatly kept with the exception of a few scorched areas indicating Zander hadn’t been in the best emotional state, having just finished stumbling through a detailed, if somewhat rambling account of the previous day. To her right was a desk holding a neat row of thick, old books with titles she’d prefer not to think too hard about. In front of her was a large purple elf giving her the is-it-possible-for-one-person-to-have-such-horrible-judgement-how-are-you-even-real look that she’d been getting a lot from a certain other elf lately.

“So let me get this straight,” Zander said. “You faked your death because you thought if Diego thought you were dead he’d leave us alone, and you were perfectly content to stay dead until you found out that your fake death had doomed all life. Am I interpreting all this correctly?”

Aida nodded. “And as soon as you show up anywhere besides Taran, he’ll immediately go after the others, and you have until then to find Sky, Tillie, and Jace, then stop the second gate to the Old Kingdom from opening so something can’t get out.”

“Um hm.”

“Do you have any idea what it is?”

“No.”

“Do you have any idea where the gate is?”

“No. That’s actually why I’m here, I was told the Chief of this village had studied the Old Kingdom and might be able to help.” Aida kept watching the floor for a few more seconds. “So, do you know where they might be?”

Now it was Zander’s turn to look uncomfortable. “Probably somewhere in Ildis. I think Sky’s enrolled in our old school, and Tillie would have gone to help her out with that. I’m not sure about Jace.” He thought back to the first letter he’d written when he’d arrived in Ratta and how he’d given them almost no information for hear they’d figure out where he was. “That’s a start, but I don’t know if it’s enough to track them all down within a few days.”

“Oh, um,” Aida laughed nervously. “About that.”

“It gets worse, doesn’t it?”

“There were Eagles members on the ship here. They saw me. So I have less time than I originally thought.”

“I can come with you, you know.”

Aida looked back up, genuinely perplexed.

“You don’t have to do everything alone.”

_Ladies and gentlemen, introducing hypocrite of the decade, Zander Morthil._

When Zander had met Aida, the most eye-catching part of her was her eyes. Their vivid green was an unexpected combination with her white hair, but more than that, they were so alive. It was as if they were lit from inside. Now, a tiny bit of that light returned to them. After a few moments, once the prolonged eye contact got uncomfortable, Aida changed the subject. “So we know what I’m doing, why are you here?”

Zander hesitated. “I’m teaching the kids here. Some reading, some writing, some magic. The lith kids are really good at the magic.”

Aida’s expression finally turned to something besides despair. “So you’re a teacher?”

“Yes, why?”

Aida opened her mouth in the way she would if she were about to start dropping puns, but before she could, one of the village kids, a small boy with a pair of curved horns opened the door. “They’re saying Seena has to go now!”

Zander stood up. “What? They’re supposed to give her a day!”

The sheep boy shrugged. “It’s what they decided.”

Zander looked like he tried to say something, then winced, then left the hut. Aida watched him go, then looked at the sheep boy, then she looked back at the door, then back at the sheep boy. “Hi.”

Then she followed Zander outside into a conflict which she understood almost none of. All she really understood was that the chief’s daughter was in trouble, and she slapped someone, and now she was becoming illeth. The little girl who Aida guessed was the chief’s daughter was crying, saying that she was bad and should be leaving. “Wait- are you exiling her for slapping someone?”

The where-have-you-been looks she got answered her question.

“Bull. Shit.”

One man in the center with mixed colored hair squinted at her. “Who are you?”

“I’m-“

“She’s just here with a few questions for Seeru about his research,” Zander interrupted, then glared at Aida. Then he turned back to the adult conversation. “Seeru, if you’ll help Aida out, we can take Seena to Ildis with us. I have friends there who would take care of her.”

“Will she…”

“She won’t be a slave.” The chief sighed, then looked at Aida. “I’ll take your questions.”

On the way to the docks, Zander caught Aida watching him with concern. “What?”

“Either you just saw Jace somewhere, or you’re mad.”

“I am, a little bit. We had no body, nothing. We looked, but you were just, gone. It was like you’d never existed. You just let us think you were dead.”

Aida was quiet for a minute, Seena’s peppering Faelern with questions the only sound aside from their footfalls. Then she spoke. “Fine, I hate you too. I’m gonna start frowning all the time, and cough every time you walk in the room.” She grinned. “And I’ll put mud in your shoes.”

He stared at her until she was done. “Cute, but you’re not off the hook yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AYYOO look who's back, and a whole day early! it's been quite a busy five months, and i didn't quite realize just how long august through december is, and i'm impressed with how easily i was able to pick this back up after it just sitting for five months.   
> even though that just means it's been five more months since i've last played the game and there are some plot points i just straight up don't remember. oh well.


	6. Chapter 6

It was in the dwarven neighborhoods of Ildis that Tillie grew up with her older brothers. It was in the university where she found a different kind of brother. It was at the city entrance where he returned and briefly confirmed the worst nightmare she could possibly have.

For a few full minutes, all she could do was stare from down the street and let waves of progressively worsening emotions wash over her.

Zander was back! But why? And who was that with him? She saw a young lith with blond mouse ears, and a taller sun elf with a bow and no shirt, and a strangely fragile-looking noble who- Was that Aida?

It was Aida.

Her blood slowly froze, turning the rest of her to the same marble as the street as she realized what this meant.

Bile began to collect in her throat. He did it.

He really did it.

It was really all Tillie could do not to scream wordlessly until her throat bled and the whole world went deaf.

And they were walking this way.

She bounded forward and felt her hand collide with Zander’s face. “DID YOU DO IT? TELL ME YOU DIDN’T DO IT.”

“I didn’t-“

“DON’T LIE TO ME WHEN SHE’S RIGHT THERE!”

“No, I swear I was just as surprised to see her as you are-“

“SURPRISED ISN’T ENOUGH WHEN SHE’S SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!” Tillie felt a cold hand on her arm.

“Um, if I could cut in here…”

_How much does she even know?_

“I’m really not sure what this is all about.”

_No._

“But I think you should know I faked my death.”

“You what?”

“And I actually wouldn’t even have come back if it wasn’t really bad.” Aida looked around at the small crowd that had become interested in the scene Tillie’d caused. “I ran into him in Taran. It’s a really long story and we need to find Sky and Jace as soon as we can and I’d rather tell it to everyone at once. Hi Airdan.” She finished as Airdan joined them.

“We can all go back home and figure out a plan there,” he suggested.

Tillie was grateful he was here, because she would have had no clue how to respond otherwise. “Alright,” she said, feeling somewhat faint. She pointed at Aida. “You’d better have one hell of an explanation.”

Tillie and Airdan led the way, holding hands and doing general couple things.

“Did you know…?” Aida asked.

“No…” Zander answered. “And I’m sorry about all the drama, by the way.”

“Oh, you mean the embarrassing one with you dad or the kind of scary one with the slap?”

“I guess both.”

Aida waited for a little more elaboration. “So, what was that? The slap?” Then things started to click together in her mind. The books in Zander’s hut. How everybody was in the same city except Zander. Whatever the hell Tillie was talking about.

“What were you doing in Taran?”

“I was teaching magic.”

“What else were you doing?”

Zander didn’t answer.

“Why were they looking at me like a ghost?”

He started speaking slowly. “I was also studying under Seeru.”

Aida thought she might follow Tillie’s lead and strangle him. “Studying _what_?”

“I may have dabbled into necromancy a little bit.”

“Holy shit.” Aida stopped walking. “Excuse me while I go process this for a while.”

At Airdan’s townhouse/mansion Aida was given a towel and a set of Ildisian robes and instructed to take a shower.

She washed the sticky scent of Sundrop Island from her skin, and struggled to push a comb though her hair. When she was done, she studied her own sunken eyes in the mirror. Free of the layers of saline, she felt like herself for the first time in two years.

“So, what’s the game plan?” she asked upon rejoining them in the large living room.

“I’ll still need to translate these journals before we can find anything,” Faelern offered.

“So how about I take you to the library to find something on the Kadan language, and you two go look for Sky and Jace?” Tillie proposed.

Aida shrugged. “Alright.”

Outside, Zander started prattling in a super un-Zander-ly way. “I’m sorry. I just let myself fall into a really bad place, and-“

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Just stop, and don’t do it again, alright? Necromancy is illegal for a reason. You could be put to death, and that’s assuming you even survived the ritual. If I die for real, that’ll be it. I’ll be gone and I won’t come back no matter what.” The empty lower street rumbled slightly with the foot traffic overhead. “But I’m done being mad if you are.”

“Deal.”


	7. Chapter 7

They found the market area that housed the pub where Tillie had suggested they look for Jace. This wasn’t a terrible surprise, considering how they’d met. Aida led the way into the pub and into a scene that gave her an impeccable sense of deja vouz.

“Just a sip?” A scrawny teenager was leaning across the bar.

“You heard your captain, no alcohol for the pups,” a bored-looking elf with light green skin and darker hair was cleaning mugs behind the bar.

“C’mon, aren’t we friends?”

The bartender gave him a look that plainly said “No.”

Not that it mattered. Because he was already distracted. “And who might you be?”

“Um,” Aida looked down at the kid in front of her. Then she caught Zander’s eye. “Stop laughing at me!”

“I’m not laughing!”

“Gonna need a little more practice before you hit on that one, whelp,” a mug of beer hit the kids head, nudging him out of the way to reveal its source. “Gorgeous, Skirts,” Jace respectfully nodded to them each. “Gorgeous!”

And then Aida was swept up in a massive hug. Her feet lifted up off of the floor. “Old Kings, I can’t believe you’re alive!”

“I am,” Aida said. “Can you put me down now?”

Jace shook his head. “No.” But then he must have seen Zander because he froze, then put her down and backed away in about a second. “Wait.”

“It’s really me. He did not bring me back. I never died. I’m the one you should be mad at.”

“But, how?” he asked. “Nobody should have been able to survive that explosion.”

“Yeah, I kind of cause that explosion. And a lot of other things.”

Jace’s eyebrows furrowed together.

“Its bad,” she added, “I’ll explain it back at Tillie and Airdan’s place.”

Jace stared at Aida incredulously for several seconds more then turned to Zander. “Thank her.”

“What for?”

“Taking your place in the doghouse.”

On the walk back, Aida couldn’t help watching Jace. He looked so much more mature and serious, but actually happy this time. She remembered what the bartender had called him: “Captain.”

“So, Captain, huh?”

“Knight Captain, actually.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Well,” Jace slowed his pace, “I’ve started rebuilding the Order of Knights. I’m recruiting teenagers, mostly homeless, and training them to fight. I guess I’m helping them not end up like me.”

“So you _can_ be a productive member of society.”

“More productive than you.”

The jest aside, Aida knew he was right. If she hadn’t doomed everything, she would have been doing absolutely nothing. And life went right on without her. She’d figured it would, but imagining her friends going about their lives while sitting on the beach feeling sorry for herself and actually seeing it were totally different. There was a very real chance that her only lasting impact on the world would be catastrophic. There was no assuring her that history wouldn’t remember her as the monster who fucked everything up. There was nothing stopping her from being the villain here. In fact, she’d have to work hard not to be.

The arrival back at the house provided a welcome escape from her thoughts, until Aida entered the door and found herself flat on her back with something heavy on her chest.

“YOU IDIOT!” Sky screamed. “I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU, YOU SELFISH, ARROGANT ASSHOLE!”

Sky’s hand landed on Aida’s shoulder and a jolt of lightning arched over her. “Ow, fuck!”

“THAT HURT?” A few warm drops landed on Aida’s face. “I’LL SHOW YOU PAIN, YOU INSENSITIVE ASS!”

“Sky, you realize what Diego would have done if he knew I was alive, right?”

“Oh, right. Because we’re _so-o_ helpless!” She shocked Aida again. “What do you think you are? Some kind of tragic hero destined to save the world?”

“No! Apparently I’m destined to destroy it!”

Sky halted her attack. “What?”

Aida looked around at Tillie and Jace mirroring Sky’s bewildered expression. “I told you it was bad.” She looked back up to Sky. “Can I get back up now?”


	8. Chapter 8

Aida recounted her story to the others. With the occasional prompt from Zander, she was able to fill them in. At some point during this, she looked down at the table they were sitting around. She didn't look back up.

When she finally tore her eyes from the marble surface, she was met with three unique reactions. Sky was grimacing in a trying not to laugh kind of way, like "Omk! That's so Aida!" Aida didn't know if this hurt or was a comfort. Jace just looked like he was trying to comprehend something way beyond him. Tillie was studying her like it was the only way to keep her cool.

Fortunately, Faelern chose that moment to reappear with Seeru's journals.

He let them all see the translations. Even once it was no longer in Kadan, it all still sounded like hogwash.

"Well, it says a lot about dreams," Tillie mused. "And you did mention having nightmares, and the man in the woods said that they must have been more than dreams. Was it a recurring nightmare?"

"Mostly, yeah," Aida answered. "Why?"

"There could be a clue to this in your dream."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting you confront the noble in your nightmare. She might have answers."

Aida laughed. "That's funny. You're not kidding are you?"

Tillie shook her head. "I can use the ingredients you have to make a sleep potion that will let you be self aware in your dream."

"I guess I won't have a choice then."

 

When Aida was trying to get comfortable on the couch in Airdan's living room, they all stood around her, giving tips and reminders and encouragements she couldn't keep track of. 

"When I have a bad dream, I always drink water," Seena told her.

"Do me a favor, kiddo, put an entire bucket of water next to me for this. I might need it." Aida looked back around at all the concerned faces. "Well, goodnight." She squirmed down while she felt the potion's effects took hold. 

 

There it was again. That _stupid_ white orb. Aida reached out to grab it, but it evaded her grasp every time, like always.

It was infuriating, being outsmarted by light. Aida angrily grabbed again, and this time, she caught it. Finally.

Ha.

"You are back."

Aida almost screamed. It was her own voice. There, standing right in front of her, was her. Or something that looked a lot like a solid silver version of her. 

"Are you me?"

"No. I am what you fear you will find behind the gates."

"And what exactly is that?"

"We are failures. We are what was left behind when the Old Kingdom ended. We waited, and now a new order has been given."

"By the old kings? They're dead."

"No."

"No?"

"The old kings are alive."

"Um, they are?"

"Tell me, where is the song to be sung, where men fly, where is it always spring?"

"I, um?"

"We know only to destroy. We have been given an order, and soon the gates will be open, and we must strike."

Aida's blood ran cold as chilling understanding gripped her. She woke up screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this was shit and it should not have taken two weeks i'm not worthy am i  
> I'm struggling to get back in an ascension mindframe and i cannot for the life of me remember how they ended up telling aida to take a nap i'm really off my game for this fic and i'm sorry


	9. Chapter 9

Aida woke up screaming incoherently.

“Side effect of the potion,” Tillie calmly explained, “It’ll take a minute before you can speak properly.”

“We don’t …have …a minute!” Aida forced out, enunciating carefully.

“Just calm down, deep breaths,” Tillie said.

Aida took a few breaths, then started shaking again. “We are dead. We are all dead.”

“What?” Sky asked.

She relayed the information her dream-self image thing had given her.

“Aida, I think we’re going to have to find this gate and fight whatever’s coming from them.”

Face the things from her nightmares.

Face the Nobles.

“No!”

“Aida,” said Tillie. “They need to be stopped. Who knows what they’re capable of?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care.” Aida stammered. “Give me the Eagles. Give me Diego. Anything but the Nobles. I’ll take out city guards. I’ll take out a drug cartel. But Nobles? I just can’t.”

Tillie looked her over, worried. Aida wasn’t sure when the last time was that anyone had seemed that concerned about her. And there were five more matching expressions watching her.

“What happened to you?” Tillie asked, more softly this time. “Before, you were so fearless, almost careless. What made that change?”

“I exploded, that’s what happened.” Aida sighed, then gave up. She might as well tell them. “When I was sixteen, I got stabbed. I mean, Sky already knew that, but I didn’t tell her who. It was a Noble kid, about my age. He busted into my grandmother’s cottage, then the older guy who was with him killed her. And I remember he said ‘It’s nothing personal. You just have something I need.’ Then he killed me. Not physically, but my-… Before that day, I was a full Noble. I was faster then, and stronger. I could see time. It was weird, kinda like a passing breeze, I dunno. But that’s what the kid killed. He took it all away. I can’t.”

Then everyone stared at her. There it was. She told them.

“Could you guys give us a few minutes?” Sky asked. “Privately?”

She sat on the couch next to Aida while the others filed out on to the balcony.

“I can’t,” Aida repeated. “I’ll take the Eagles any day. Diego is a damn puppy next to those guys.”

“Aida, you have people who love you. People who care about you. You keep acting like some lone tragic hero doomed to wander alone forever but you aren’t lone. We’ll take care of you.” She waited for Aida to stop shaking. “But there are others out there, people who really are alone. Who’s going to take care of them if we let these things out?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“When am I not?”

Now the matter at hand was where to go. A few minutes of brainstorming later, Seena grew impatient. “Valond Mountain!”

“What?”

“Valond Mountain! A place where it is always spring. And there’s an Ascension temple there, so that could be flying? And priestesses sing!”

“Seena?”

“Yes?”

“Are you a genius?”

The little girl beamed. “I like riddles.” Her face fell, just a little bit. “Seena good?”

“Seena awesome!”

When they caught up with Nina, the Savage Princess was under attack. Now with companions, it took little to dispatch the thugs threatening her.

“Wait! There’s one left. Hey! You!”

“Y-yes ma’am?”

Aida flipped one knife around in her hand, then pointed at the thug. “Run back to Diego, and tell him I’m coming for his cute butt, and I’m going to literally rip his heart out. Then, I’m going to gently cut it into cute little animal-shaped pieces and I’m going to force-feed them to you. And I’m going to laugh while doing it.”

She watched with enjoyment while his face regressed from disgust to terror. “Go!”

She smiled, just a little bit, watching him scramble away. Then she turned to see a few more wide eyes.

“Cute butt?” Zander muttered.

“Please don’t tell me ‘cute butt’ was the most disturbing part of that speech,” Nina said.

“So,” Aida had to admit, she felt much better after the fight. “Let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who disappeared for like months  
> i actually haven't written anything at all in months and months so lol yeah  
> i'm sorry i had a series of crises   
> this also means it's been upwards of a year since i've played ascension so look how much more fun we're going to have!!


	10. Chapter 10

A Noble teenager lay in a pool of her own blood.

Sky covered her mouth to keep from screaming. There was a Noble, at her feet, either dead or bleeding out. She stood, unsure what exactly would be the correct course of action at this point.

Then the Noble’s eyelids fluttered. Sky crouched down.

The girl looked young, about her age.

Her eyes opened. They weren’t red, like Noble eyes were supposed to be. Instead, they were an almost glowing green. Phosphorescent green eyes were watching her, barely conscious and disoriented. The girl looked like she wanted to ask something, but instead groaned. A trickle of blood escaped from her mouth.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now.” Sky assured. “I’ll get help. We’ll take care of you.”

Sky had no way of knowing that she’d someday fail. Even then, she had no clue that she’d get a second chance, and that she’d stand a chance this time.

So she catches Aida by the arm while they’re boarding the Savage Princess. “Hey, I need to tell you something.”

Aida turns, then frowns. “What is it?”

Sky takes a deep breath, then begins. “A few months ago, I was contacted by the Eagles.”

“You what?”

“I know how it sounds. But a crate full of my mother’s journals was delivered, along with a note from Diego explain that all the research technically belonged to the Eagles, since my mother was one of them. Did you know that? My mom was an Eagle?”

“No, I had no clue,” Aida feigns a surprised look that would fool nobody.

Sky lets it slide. “Well, he also said he’d be happy to ‘have me.’”

“ _Have_ you?”

“I said no, of course,” she reassures her. “Trust me, nobody wants Diego dead more than me, except you, maybe.”

Straight, blunt violence is more Aida’s thing. “Oh, he is so gonna die.”

After that they split up. Sky joins Tillie, drinking in the corner while Aida goes to bail out Jace, who is attempting to explain to Seena that he is not a prince, and that he can’t marry her. Or, maybe just to make fun of him. As Seena begins to cry. And as Zander, ever the protective one, approaches to join the conversation, and glowering at Jace. More so than usual. Jace attempts to swear before remembering that Seena is ten, and Zander is watching. At this point Aida is howling with laughter.

“Well done, you child whisperer.”

At this point even Zander is beginning to crack.

“They are too great together,” Tillie says as she starts her fourth beer.

Sky is maybe halfway through her first. “Who?” Sky asks.

Tillie just hums pensively, and watches Zander take Seena away from the bad influences.

“What would you want to bet that she’ll blush up and get defensive if we ask her about Zander?”

“Or Jace,” Sky added.

“What do you think she’d say if we made her choose?”

“I like the way you think.”

“Let’s find out, shall we?” Tillie gleefully turns to shout across the deck. “AIDA! AIIIDA, HI! C’MERE!” She adopts a slight drunken slur.

“What?” Aida strolls over to where Tillie and Sky are standing. Sky can’t help but laugh at her friend’s unsuspecting face.

“So,” Tillie pitches, “Sky and I were having a sort of beauty contest and we need your help, which of the boys here do you think is the best looking?”

“Are you… drunk?”

Tillie hiccups. “Juss answer the question! I already said Faelern, and Sky here said Jace, I think she likes the knight thing.”

Sky protests, “I didn’t say-“

Tillie shushes her. “Just tell us, who do you think?”

Aida is even paler than usual, if that’s possible. “I- I um, I guess,” Color begins creeping back into her cheeks, this time bright pink. “If I had to pick, um, Zander? I mean, the magic kisses and all.”

“HA!” Shouts Tillie, suddenly sounding remarkably sober. “Told you that’s what she’d say!”

“That’s not fair, you set her up!” But even as she says it, Sky knows it’s not true. Tillie had left Zander out of the equation totally; Aida wouldn’t have brought him up if she didn’t mean it.

Ancestors damn Tillie and her spot-on calculations.

“What are you giggling about?” Asks a voice just behind Aida.

“Bye!” Tillie shouts, then darts away. Sky follows suit, leaving Aida and Zander behind to sort it out.


End file.
